5 Reasons To Try Reverse Dieting

Month after month of living and training in a caloric deficit can leave you exhausted, frustrated—and no leaner. Try reverse dieting and watch your energy level and training quality soar! You need to have this technique right up your sleeve. Here’s why!

WHAT REVERSE DIETING IS—AND ISN’T

Reverse dieting is a technique that smart bodybuilders have used for years to recover after their bodybuilding shows are done. If this is your first time seeing the term, you might just think it means “eat more,” but it’s more on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Reverse dieting doesn’t mean you can stuff pizzas and burgers down your throat until you no longer feel deprived. Rather, you increase calories strategically, usually in the range of 80-100 calories per week, and then slowly move upward after that.

Your metabolism will be super low after being on a massively calorie restricted diet(crash diet) for a long period of time, and pigging out all of a sudden can lead to some serious fat gain in a short period of time. Reverse dieting, on the other hand, will help you experience some long-earned hypertrophy without having to hide yourself under those baggy clothes that you despise wearing.

So does this mean that only bodybuilders and other extremely lean people can benefit from a reverse-dieting approach? Definitely not. A reverse diet can do wonders for anyone who falls into one or more of the following categories:

You’ve been dieting (or crash dieting) on very low calories for a very long time, and fat loss results have stalled.

Your metabolism is wrecked to the point where no amount of calorie-cutting and exercising will elicit a response from your body.

You train hard, but still feel low energy and fatigue during the day.

You hate your diet, your motivation is at an all-time low, and your workouts feel like a torture session.

Reverse dieting has been found to help repair metabolisms that have been damaged from chronic dieting, but even if you’ve never used the word “diet” in your lifetime, you should still know about it. Here’s how it will help you.

BENEFIT 1:IT ALLOWS YOU TO EAT MORE

This may sound simplistic, but if you’ve ever been tied to a restrictive dietary scheme, you know what a relief just a few more calories a day can bring. Suddenly, there’s no more constant worrying about when and where your next meal is going to come from. You can attend a social event that will have food or drink, rather than stay at home because it would tempt you to deviate from your airtight program.

THIS MAY SOUND SIMPLISTIC, BUT IF YOU’VE EVER BEEN TIED TO A RESTRICTIVE DIETARY SCHEME, YOU KNOW WHAT A RELIEF JUST A FEW MORE CALORIES A DAY CAN BRING.

“Living the lifestyle requires sacrifice,” you tell yourself in the heat of battle. But after a while, living in a deficit while training hard inevitably wears you down. Once you begin reverse dieting, life won’t about deprivation anymore. Instead, You will have more freedom to relax when it comes to food quantities, and that will, in turn, helps you to think less about food.

By nipping a craving in the bud, even in a small way, You will be able to easily move on with the rest of your day instead of having your thoughts constantly reminding you about that one treat you were denying yourself. You also don’t have to cry about your measly portion sizes because you can just eat to the point of satisfaction and be done with it.

BENEFIT 2:IT PULLS YOU OUT OF THE DIETING MINDSET

After dieting for a long time, you would be afraid to stop. You thought that, without that caloric deficit, your weight wouldn’t go down. And if your weight didn’t go down, then clearly everyone would think that you were:

Out of control

Getting “softer”

Letting go

Unlovable

Unworthy

or whatever you tell yourself

But don’t worry, those remarks will never come. On the contrary, your friends and family will express relief that you finally allowed yourself to enjoy food with them. Of course, it really wasn’t about the food so much as the fact that you were able to eat dinner with them—literally—at the dinner table and share a common experience.

IT PULLS YOU OUT OF THE DIETING MINDSET.

Now you will learn that the only person who truly gives two shits about your size is … well, only you. It won’t be until you begin to truly understand this that you will be able to heal your relationship with the weighing scale.

BENEFIT 3:YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TRAIN FOR MORE THAN JUST FAT LOSS

Before, your body was merely a vessel for showcasing your fat-loss efforts. You viewed it as little more than a mannequin that manifested the amount of body fat you were carrying at any given time. When you trained, your sole purpose was to burn calories—the more, the better. When you sprinted, you actually imagined your fat cells burning to a crisp. I know! Even I had the same mindset.

but at some point in time, this single-mindedness will suck the enjoyment out of the exercises. You will view it as merely a means to an end, and before long you will find yourself simply going through the motions like a body without a soul.

GIVE YOUR BODY THE FUEL IT NEEDS, AND IT WILL REWARD YOUR HARD TRAINING WITH ENERGY(AND MUSCLE).

With the boost of energy you will receive from reverse dieting, you will come to the realization that you haven’t been giving your body enough credit. You will witness the strength you had to bang out multiple bodyweight pull-ups, suddenly you can easily carry heavy grocery bags up the stairs on your own, and can pick your dog up with ease. In short, You will realize that you have been building strength, but haven’t really allowed yourself to experience it.

Soon enough, this realization will help you switch your goals from calorie-burning to strength-building because training for strength is way more fun—and when we are well-fed, it can be far more effective at helping us stay lean than training solely for fat-loss. Give your body the fuel it needs, and it will reward your hard training with energy(and muscle).

You deserve to experience the full range of benefits that your training has to offer. Let some calories back onto your plate, and watch as the quality of both your workouts and your life go up!

BENEFIT 4: YOU WILL HAVE MORE ENERGY TO FOCUS ON OTHER AREAS OF YOUR LIFE

To someone who had been living and training in a deficit, more calories will mean more energy. All of a sudden you won’t dragging your feet around all day. You won’t be distracted by the hunger pangs or fatigue, and that in turn will give you the much needed drive to approach your work—as well as your relationships with your fiance, friends, family, and dogs—with extra enthusiasm.

YOU WON’T BE DISTRACTED BY THE HUNGER PANGS OR FATIGUE, AND THAT IN TURN WILL GIVE YOU THE MUCH NEEDED DRIVE TO APPROACH YOUR WORK—AS WELL AS YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR FIANCE, FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND DOGS—WITH EXTRA ENTHUSIASM.

Mentally, the transformation will become even more pronounced and etched. More carbohydrates meant more glucose, which meant more willpower to seize the day and get tasks done. Not only that, but the very fact that you won’t be thinking about food all day will free you up an incredible amount of stress and mental space.

You will become more patient, more open-minded, and more focused. You will often find yourself in a better mood, and will appear more pleasing to be around with. In short, You will feel like yourself again. 🙂

BENEFIT 5: YOU WILL SURELY FIND ONE MORE REASON ALONG THE WAY 😛

I’m sure you will find one more reason to fall in love with this diet once you have it tried and tested. And Nope I won’t change the title to 4 Reasons To Fall In Love With This Diet, so don’t ask. 😉